The present invention relates in general to identification of physical characteristics of an animal and a human being. More particularly, the present invention relates to the identification of an animal and/or a person involved in an animal transaction using iris recognition.
Animal identification has been in use for hundreds of years. The oldest form, acquaintance and recognition of animals by humans, is still in use. Newer techniques, such as ear tags, branding, and tattoos have been widely used but are susceptible to loss, illegibility, and mutilation concerns. DNA has been used, but this method is defeated by cloning. The newest methods are based on radio frequency identification (RFID) devices. These RFID devices typically include passive RF transponders that can be incorporated into collars, ear tags, injectible microcapsules, and rumen boluses. However, external RF devices are susceptible to theft, tampering, and mutilation while internal devices are intrusive and hard to maintain. Also, biological methods of identification have been proposed, such as antibody fingerprinting, which is one of the few techniques that can be used after the animal is slaughtered as well as before.
The requirements for animal identification vary depending on the application. Identification at or near birth is desirable for genetic and performance monitoring. For most other applications, such as animal health and food safety, it is sufficient to identify the animal at weaning or prior to its leaving the farm of origin.
In addition, fraud and deception in animal transactions and the theft of rare or valuable animals results in losses to animal owners and increased insurance claims. The costs of theses losses are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for animals and animal products. Automatic animal identification has been identified as a critical technology that can be used to meet industry needs for various animal transactions, including value based marketing, genetic improvement, breeding, animal tracking, health, disease control, and food safety. Additional, government requirements in some countries include population monitoring and certification to validate farm subsidies paid on a per-animal basis. For example, the requirement for accurate animal identification within the food industry is broad-based, and includes large food animals such as cattle, sheep, and swine. In addition, identification technology applicable to high-value animals, such as thoroughbred horses and racing dogs, is needed to prevent theft and fraud, and facilitate interstate and international movement of these animals in connection with equestrian events, competition, racing, and trading. Also, the authentication of animals used in breeding is needed to avoid fraud and deception and to ensure that the desired traits of an animal are passed on to the offspring.
In addition to identifying the animal, in certain animal transactions it is also desirable to positively identify persons involved in the animal identity and tracking chain, such as an owner, a shipper and transporting personnel, buyers and sellers, food processing personnel, veterinarians and animal care takers, etc. Currently, there is no reliable system for positively identifying an animal and at the same time also identifying the person in the identity and tracking chain who proposes to have an interest in or control over the animal. Matching the animal to its rightful owner or appointed guardian helps provide certainty in animal transactions and to ensure the safe and efficient transfer of animals between interested parties in order to minimize fraud, theft, uncertainty, and other risks normally present during most animal transactions.
Various technologies are used for uniquely identifying a person in accordance with an examination of particular attributes of either the person""s interior or exterior eye. One of these technologies involves the visual examination of the particular attributes of the exterior of the iris of at least one of the person""s eyes. The iris of an eye has random patterns of striations, ciliary processes, crypts, rings, furrows and other features which had been shown capable of generating highly unique biometric templates for identification purposes. In this regard, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,349, xe2x80x9cIris Recognition Systemxe2x80x9d, issued to Flom et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,560, xe2x80x9cBiometric Personal Identification System Based on Iris Analysisxe2x80x9d, issued to Daugman. As made clear by these patents, the visible texture of a person""s iris can be used to distinguish one person from another with great accuracy. Thus, iris recognition can be used for such purposes as controlling access to a secure facility or a bank automatic teller machine, for example. An iris recognition system involves the use of an imager to video image the iris of each person attempting access, and image processing means for comparing this iris video image with a reference iris image on file in a database.
Iris identification systems have been developed that are capable of collecting images of the iris of a person and processing them to produce biometric templates. These templates may be used to identify individual irises with extremely low error rates, on the order of 1 in 106. The systems capture the iris images using stationary optical platforms that are often large, complex, and expensive. The systems are difficult to use with minimal cooperation of the subject being identified. As a result their usefulness in many applications is limited.
Although the art of iris recognition systems is well developed for humans, there remain some problems inherent in this technology, particularly the lack of a system and method for animal identification using iris recognition, as well as the lack of a system and method for using iris recognition for authorizing animal transactions with a high level of certainty in the validity and finality of the animal transaction. Therefore, a need exists for a recognition system and method that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for identification of animals based on features of the iris of the eye. An image of the eye is captured using an iris acquisition device that combines a camera, an optical system, an illumination source, and a viewing screen, preferably in one small, hand-held device. The illumination and imaging are capable of using visible and infrared light, preferably spanning a range of wavelengths from about 680 to about 800 nanometers. The viewing screen can be used to display the live image to an operator, who uses the displayed image to position and focus the device to obtain high quality images. Alternatively, automatic focusing features can be employed in capturing the images.
According to aspects of the invention, iris texture information is extracted from the image at multiple scales of analysis by a self-similar set of quadrature (2-D Gabor) bandpass filters defined in a dimensionless polar coordinate system. The sign of the projection of different parts of the iris onto these multi-scale filters determines each bit in a biometric code (e.g., an abstract 256-byte iris code). The resulting biometric code has fixed length and format, facilitating comparison of multiple codes at high speed using simple digital exclusive-or (XOR) logic. A similarity metric, the Hamming distance, is computed from any two biometric codes. The value of this metric positively confirms or disconfirms the identity of an individual animal by comparing its biometric code with a previously-obtained biometric template, collected under conditions which permit independent verification of identity, and stored in a database along with identification information.
The present invention is directed to a system and method of animal identification. The system can authenticate the claimed identity of an animal and identify an unknown animal by comparing a captured iris image on an animal to stored iris images in a database.
The present invention is also directed to a system and method of animal transaction authorization wherein the identity of one or more animals is authenticated, the identity of one or more persons in the animal identity and tracking chain is authenticated, and the identity of the person in the animal identity and tracking chain is matched to the identity of the animal prior to the authorization of an animal transaction. The animal and person identification is accomplished using the iris recognition techniques described herein, and the animal and person identities are keyed to, or associated with, one another in a database to facilitate the matching between the animal and the person.
In another embodiment within the scope of the present invention, the animal transaction is authorized based on the results of a comparison of a captured animal iris image to a stored animal iris image and based on the results of a comparison of a captured human iris image to a stored human iris image.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the stored animal iris template is keyed to, or associated with, the stored person iris template providing a pointer between the stored animal identification information and the stored person identification information.
In another embodiment within the scope of the present invention, a level of authority and entitlements are stored with or pointed to by one or more of the animal template and person template.
In another embodiment within the scope of the present invention, the authorization to complete the animal transaction and the level of authority and entitlements are based on one or more signals received from a controlling authority.
The present invention can be used to identify any animal or other creature having an eye with an iris. This would include almost all animals, reptiles, birds, fish, etc., including large food animals, such as cattle, cows, sheep, and swine; commercial animals, such as race horses and racing dogs; show animals, such as dogs; domestic animals, such as dogs and cats; rare or endangered animals; animals kept in zoos or on game preserves; work animals, such as horses, oxen, elephants; or any other animal whose identity is desired to be known and verified.
According to one aspect of the invention, an iris acquisition device is provided having a front surface for obtaining an image of an iris of an eye; a lens having an image plane disposed in front of the front surface of the iris acquisition device; a mirror disposed on a side of the lens opposite the iris acquisition device; an illuminator disposed along a side of the mirror; a memory for storing an iris image obtained by the iris acquisition device; a processor for extracting a template from the stored iris image; and a communications interface for transmitting the template to a central station.
According to another aspect of the invention, the iris acquisition device comprises a camera, and the mirror is a cold mirror. According to another aspect of the present invention, the iris acquisition device further comprises at least a visible indicator or an audible indicator to indicate when the image of the iris has been obtained. According to another aspect of the present invention, the iris acquisition device further comprises a focus assessment processor coupled to the visible indicator and/or the audible indicator.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a processor authorizes an animal transaction responsive to a signal received from a central station. In one preferred situation, the animal identification technique would provide a pointer into a proprietary, national or international database which allows for both premises and individual animal identification. Also, it is desirable to identify animals at an acceptable throughput (speed) and acceptable standoff distance together with the improved performance provided by iris recognition.
In a further embodiment within the scope of the present invention includes a method of authorizing an animal transaction responsive to a match between the identification of one or more animals and the identification of one or more persons comprising the steps of: storing image information of the iris of at least one animal""s eye and at least one person""s eye; illuminating an eye of an unidentified animal having an iris and an unidentified person having an iris; obtaining an image of the iris of the unidentified animal and the unidentified person; extracting an iris template from the obtained image, if the image is of sufficient quality; comparing the template of the obtained image with the stored image information to identify the unidentified animal and unidentified person; and authorizing the animal transaction responsive to a result of the step of comparing. The stored image information used for identification can be a code or template extracted from the iris image, and the comparison can be performed at a controlling authority, such as an animal service provider. The controlling authority can be centrally located or can include a plurality of remote local servers.